Portugal. The Man: The best band you’re not listening to

Chances are you’ve heard of Wasilla, Alaska. You know it as the
home of snow machines and as a place where a certain former
Republican vice presidential candidate can see Russia from her
doorstep. That’s probably just about all anyone knows about this
arctic town tucked far, far away from the rest of the continental
United States.

What you likely don’t know about Wasilla is that it’s home to
one of the most exciting live bands making music today. A band with
a name as obscure as its hometown used to be prior to the 2008
presidential elections. That band is Portugal. The Man and they put
on a mini rock spectacle at the Crocodile April 16 filled with
smoke machines, fancy lights and loud guitars coupled with intense
rhythms.

If you take the spazz out of the Mars Volta and the art out of …
And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead you’ve got Portugal.
The Man, the best band you’re not listening to. Their songs are not
overwhelmed by too many grandiose, proggy jams and they aren’t
filled with ambitious concepts or massive artistic statements.
Portugal. The Man’s music just flat out rocks.

Led by John Gourley, a small man in stature who plays a big
guitar (see above photo for evidence), the band blazed through a
90-minute set that was heavy on material from its best record
“Church Mouth.” The set kicked off with the title track from that
record with the band seamlessly folding “One Is The Loneliest
Number” into its tail end. From there it was all business as these
rugged-looking Alaskans proceeded to give the new Crocodile its
first real rock show.